Homeschooling Gifted Children
September 30th 2006 13:08
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Homeschooling...where do I start?
This is the perennial question asked by any newbie homeschooler. The answer to this will always vary depending on your preferred teaching method and your child's learning style.
At first, I wanted to stay close as possible to the structure of a traditional school. So I did a search on packaged curriculums and tons of good possibilities came up. One of the curriculum providers that always came up during my search was Abeka and the more I looked into it, the more appealing it sounded. There was only one problem - we are Catholics.
I was still unsure of what curriculum to go for when I joined our local homeschooling group. There I met many wonderful homeschooling veterans, some are Christians and a handful were Catholics. I learned that I can use some of the Abeka books and just supplement it with Catholic books for teaching religion.
So I went about choosing the books we will use and came up with our own curriculum list:
Our Pre-K Curriculum
Language Arts: Abeka K-4 Reading, Writing and Phonics Curriculum/Abeka ABC 123
Penmanship: Abeka Kindergarten Manuscript Practice
Math: Abeka K-4 Numbers Curiculum/ABC 123
Science: Scholastic's Learning Science Through Play
Religion: Kingfisher's Children's Bible Stories
Art: Abeka Art Projects K
Music: Wee Sing Bible Songs CD and Wee Sing 25th Anniversary CD
P.E.: Various outdoor activities and fieldtrips
Supplemental Books/CD's:
A Child's Garden of Verses
The American Heritage Picture Dictionary
Abeka My Favorite Kindergarten Poems
The Real Mother Goose
The Little Book of Fairy Stories
Growing Up With Amber Lamb
Bob Books First
Disney's Fairy Tales
The Children's Book of Virtues
Smart Steps Kindergarten
Jumpstart Kindergarten
Once I've set up the materials we needed, I then searched where I could buy them, preferably at a lower price. My list may look like a lot but I did manage to track down all of them in three different places:
1. Our local homeschooler's book sale.
2. Online curriculum swap groups.
3. Ebay
Not only did I manage to save tons of money by buying second hand books, but I also made some new friends along the way.
So if you're new to homeschooling here's my top 7 advice:
1. Determine your teaching method and your child's learning style.
2. Assess the subjects that your child needs and wants to study. It is imporant that you acquaint yourself with your state/country's homeschoolng laws.
3. Determine your final curriculum list and daily schedules of subjects to be taught.
4. Join your local homeschooler's group.
5. Join an online homeschooling support group.
6. Search for your books by joining online curriculum swap groups, going to your local homeschooler's book sale and browsing online stores such as Ebay. NOTE: Always exercise caution when buying online.
7. Pray
Homeschooling can be a joy if you've done the necessary preparations.
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